‘The “slave” daughter of the Maoist cult leader Aravindan Balakrishnan has revealed her identity for the first time as her father was jailed for 23 years for her imprisonment and repeated sex attacks on other followers.’

‘In a ruling that has been described as “a blow for civil liberties”, appeal judges have effectively limited legally aided claims against the police to situations where claimants can show there was dishonesty.’

‘A solicitor involved in the 2011 litigation between Russian oligarchs Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich has been fined £50,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) for entering into what was then an unlawful contingency fee agreement, under which he would have netted tens of millions of pounds had Mr Berezovsky succeeded.’

‘The Court of Appeal has reduced by almost two-thirds the balance awarded to the seller of a law firm by the High Court, after ruling that – among other things – the trial judge had been wrong not to award the buyer damages for misrepresentation of the firm’s finances.’

‘What is misconduct? And who is in public office? The existing law that governs misconduct in public office does not provide clear answers to either of these questions, according to the Law Commission.

Today the Law Commission launched a consultation aimed at exploring how the current law is being used and discovering the problems caused in practice by the law’s lack of clarity.’

‘The Sentencing Council has published a new guideline for judges and magistrates on the sentencing of robbery. The new guideline, which has been issued following a public consultation, will come into effect on 1 April 2016.’

‘Lord Justice Jackson gave the IPA Annual Lecture on the 28 January 2016. “The purpose of this lecture is to argue that we should now introduce an extensive regime of fixed costs for civil litigation as proposed in chapters 15 and 16 of the Review of Civil Litigation Costs Final Report. In the light of recent developments the time is now ripe to take this substantial step…” ‘

‘The hospital where young mother of two Frances Cappuccini died was prosecuted under corporate manslaughter legislation introduced in the wake of a series of catastrophic disasters in the late 80s and early 90s.’

‘Police could face extra expense and confusion as a result of discrepancies in the laws banning the possession of drugs that will emerge once the psychoactive substances bill comes into force, a police and crime commissioner has warned.’